Posts Tagged ‘dress up’

Part of me wishes I could have done this strip Monday to commemorate the DVD release of Spider-Man, but I was on such a role inserting Cami into the strips, why kill a good thing?

Besides, this leaves room for me to do a whole week of Spider-Man strips. I’ve got some ideas, so stay tuned for those.

My love for all things Spider-Man knows no bounds. I’ve been reading the comics since I was about 8. I’ve since had to let it slide for financial reasons and, admittedly, the clone storyline of the late 90’s did a lot to sour my expectations of my favorite friendly, neighborhood wall-crawler. But the initial appeal and awe of Spider-Man will never wane. He’s the best super hero hands down in my book.

What a relief after almost a decade of legal wrangling that Sam Raimi didn’t screw it up when he brought ol’ web-head to the silver screen. Sure, there were moments of camp and, in certain parts of the web-slinging screamed “YOU ARE WATCHING A SPECIAL EFFECT”, there is a lot of love and admiration of the character in the film. Because of it, I respect it.

Shameful as it is to admit, I didn’t wait in line overnight to pick up my copy of the movie when it came out on Friday. This time of year is often nebulous and frustrating because since I have both my birthday and Christmas in December, I can’t go out and buy some of the movies or CD’s I want.

I talk so much about the new releases that I can’t be sure someone hasn’t already gone out and purchased something for me as a gift. So from the beginning of November until the end of the year, I’m caught in a self-imposed media lockout. I realize that if I end up getting a second copy of a movie, I can just take it back, but it’s never worth the hassle. Have you ever tried returning something to Target without the receipt? Plus, if someone is going out of their way to get me anything at all, it’s too heartbreaking to tell them “Sorry, I already have this” Everyone wants to feel like they put some thought into their gift giving. I can’t bear to bring that disappointment in their lives because I can’t display a little self-restraint.

But don’t think it doesn’t tear me up to see those Spider-Man displays everywhere I turn…

Here’s hoping everyone got a chance to go out and vote yesterday. At least now I can get back to having commercials where used car salesmen yell at me instead of politicians.

And if anyone can help me decipher the difference between those two camps, I’d like to know.

Not much else to say here today. I’m enjoying the current arc if only because I get to draw myself wearing a Spider-Man mask. I used to draw Spider-Man a lot when I was younger. I think there’s a whole box of pictures somewhere in my parents basement full of my Spidey drawings.

Zach over at No Pants Tuesday says I’m missing out on some good stories in the Spider-verse right now. I wouldn’t know. I haven’t read comics in over half a decade. I don’t think I can start again now. That stuff is like crack and I can’t afford it. At least not while I’m nursing this heroin habit.

Just kidding!

Speaking of No Pants Tuesday, it might be fun for you to check out their new web cam page. Yours truly was invited to slap his ugly mug up there to scare the children.

Right now the page seems to be a web-comic creator only affair. In addition to Zach’s pic, you’ll find Carrington from Movie Punks, Aric from Fish Strips and Amber from Go Eat A Spamwich. I’m sure there will be more to come.

Anyway, if you’ve ever wondered what I looked like, now’s your chance to get a good laugh. I used to be really phobic about letting people online know what I looked like. Anymore, I’ve come to realize just how awesome and supportive the online comics community is. I see no reason to hide like some stuck-up techno artist when I already use my real name in my dealings with the public. My true form should be no different.

Well, this wraps up the week of Spider-Man references. Too bad. I was having fun drawing the mask.

For some reason, I’m always at a loss on Friday’s when it comes to writing up the blog. Ideas float in and out, but nothing seems to stick. I should be writing this stuff down and refer to the notes.

I guess I might be seeing 8 Mile this weekend as it appears to be the only viable new release out there. Nevermind I haven’t gotten around to seeing Red Dragon or The Ring – two flicks I was really geared up for, but slacked off on seeing.

When I first heard about 8 Mile, I thought it was just going to be a hip-hop version of Glitter – another movie vehicle for a pop star. When I heard Curtis Hanson of LA Confidential and Wonder Boys was directing, I gave it pause for consideration.

My willingness to go has waned, but the generally positive reviews I’m hearing have piqued my interest again. Words like “intense”, “charismatic”, “powerful” and “inspirational” are being lobbed about. Your don’t use those words for things you hate.

The most interesting notices I’ve read have pegged Eminem for an Oscar nomination next year. I don’t know if it’s in the cards, but nobody thought Frank Sinatra would ever win an Oscar, either. The people at G.L.A.D.D. must be chewing the corners off the walls by now.

I was going to go into a thing about Eminem as an artist, but it’s been done to death. Let’s just say I own all three of his albums and think he is a talented voice. He’s got balls to make the leap to film so shortly after his introduction to mainstream America. Good luck to him.

I’m slowly creeping up on 50 strips and I’m beginning to panic. Part of me would like to celebrate. It’s really a milestone and I think I’ve shown my willingness to celebrate considering I was the guy who did a week of strips for getting 5,000 unique hits.

Obviously things have changed since then. Lots more people are coming to the site and I’m finding it brought up in conversation is some of the weirdest places. Someone is linking to me from the Barenaked Ladies message board? Site logs can be interesting sometimes.

In terms of the big five-oh, I’ve had some plans swirling around as to how to celebrate. I’ve been threatening to add a bonus section for a while now, but I don’t know. I guess I’ll just take this time to announce that if the milestone passes without a lot of hoopla, it’s not a disservice to the readers, I just don’t want to build up the possibility of some big change or addition to the site and then come up lame.

We’ve been around the block on the TWC issue a few times. I think my stance is pretty clear. I think it’s a good promotional tool that has been bastardized along the way.

But now, watching these strips that came up around the same time I did finding success makes me second-guess myself.

I still think there’s a lot of negativity surrounding the methods sites use to generate hits. (Movie Comics – I’m looking in your direction) So in that respect, I’m glad I’m not involved. But sometimes I dream what I would be like to have my work exposed to more people.

I talked to Zach about it on AIM a couple of days ago. He told me I really painted myself into a corner with what I said about the TWC. He was right. But ultimately, good work is its own reward. If more and more people find the site through the links of other sites, the word of mouth will spread and more people will come. It’s up to me to keep the quality consistent. I trust the rest will take care of itself. Thanks to you guys, it looks like it will.

Don’t think for a second I’m going to cave and align myself with TWC. I’ve gone to far on my word to turn back now. It’s just good to think out loud sometimes.

At any rate, I’m glad I don’t have to slap those ugly TWC banners everywhere. They’d really clash with the design. There’s an upside to everything, it seems.

There seems to be a lot of geek-centric material coming out in the last few weeks. First Spider-Man, now Star Wars. In a couple of weeks it will be Lord of the Rings.

I guess that’s good marketing for you. Gear up those big ticket sellers for the holidays when you know geeks for miles around will be lined up around the block for the privilege to bring a copy into their own home.

I’m pitching another story arc that is similar to last week. I know this just looks like I’m recycling ideas, but quite frankly, I’m getting a real thrill out of dressing up the characters in different costumes. It’s good to stretch your artistic muscles every now and again.

Speaking of which, I’ve started to employ some new coloring and highlighting techniques. I hope you noticed them. Aric from Fish Strips noticed so he gets the free link for today!

The weather in Iowa is totally backwards right now. On Saturday, it was in the high 60’s, sunny and pleasant. Sunday night, the wind is howling like a banshee and it’s snowing.

Here’s part two of the Star Wars storyline I’m working with this week. I know some of you might be thinking that I’ve overlooked this weeks other high-profile DVD release, but don’t worry. I’ve got a Lord of the Rings joke waiting in the wings for Friday.

Of course, right now I’m in the 9th circle of Hell because I couldn’t run out and get my grubby little mitts on either movie yesterday. This all stems back to the holiday sanctions I mentioned in an earlier blog that prevent me from spending my money all willy-nilly.

Yeah, don’t think it doesn’t tear me up to see a gaggle of grinning jokers on the No Pants Tuesday cam portal page holding up their copies for the world to see.

They’re taunting me. I hate them.

I got a couple of e-mails asking me why I didn’t make some jokes about 8-Mile on Monday. Believe me, I would have liked to, but every treatment I came up with resulted in one of the characters rapping at some point. The fact of the matter is, I’ve got no flow. I could write a rap to save my life. So I just decided to forgo the usual helping of embarrassment and stick to something appropriately geeky.

It was really never a contest. If you’re putting up Star Wars against 8-Mile, it’s kind of obvious who’s going to garner the lion’s share of the attention. I’m just one of “that” generation.

Less is more for Wednesday. I spent too much time coloring the strip. I’m done with looking at it.

“I think I’m gonna have nightmares trying to figure our where you stashed that hat this entire time.”

Thank you very much!

So here’s to another week of exploiting my nerdy obsessions. I even snuck in a little Lord of the Rings. Isn’t that nice?

So what’s next? Ah, yes. Harry Potter. I, along with the rest of the mindless drones plan on seeing The Chamber of Secrets tonight. Is it wrong to admit I like this franchise? I enjoyed about 80% of the last one. The remaining 20% sat there loathing director Christopher Columbus for unleashing the holy terror of the Home Alone movies and Bicentennial Man onto the world. What did we ever do to you, Chris?!

I never read any of the Harry Potter books before seeing the movie. But I thought the movie was good enough to make me want to start reading them. I think that’s a pretty good indication of quality.

Anyway, Harry Potter jokes here Monday. Do come back.

I ran into a spot of bad luck last night. On a tip from the crew over at Troy’s Bucket, I swung by my local Toys ‘R Us to purchase a copy of Episode II on DVD. Word on the street is that they were letting it go for a mere $9.99.

Yes, I know I’ve spoken about the sanctions on cool purchases, but this price probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer. But when you make your love ones purchase nerd artifacts as presents, they’ll be a lot less happy knowing they could have saved ten bucks two weeks earlier. I decided to save them the frustration.

Anyway, I bring the movie home tonight, unwrap it – then notice it’s the FULL SCREEN version. NOT wide screen like any cineophile with discerning taste would demand. No. It was crappy, pan-and-scan. I felt like a total chump. I’m usually more observant of these kinds of things. I guess I must have been blinded by the price tag. It just goes to show, kids. ALWAYS CHECK THE LABEL!

So of course I’m going to take it back and demand my widescreen version. Let’s hope the big, goofy giraffe is understanding.

The funny thing about this story is that my friend Nick e-mailed me earlier this week and shared a story where the exact same thing happened to him when he bought Spider-Man at Target. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re both college-educated individuals. You’d think we’d do better at simple reading. Nick was an English major, for crying-out-loud.

It is my opinion that retailers need to stick the full screen and wide screen versions of movies AS FAR AWAY FROM EACH OTHER AS POSSIBLE. Treat them like they were just divorced. Use the VHS copies like they were kids used for leverage and stick them in the middle so we know where the dividing line is. Turn left for quality. Turn right for a version that’s just as good as anything you’ll see on TBS.

For the love of God, I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would choose the full screen version. It’s like buying beer without alcohol in it. Don’t tell me you drink it for the taste!

QUICK PLUG: I almost forgot, but everyone needs to swing by Unmentionables. Protege108th was cool enough to sneak our characters into the background of his latest strip and I promised I would give him a shout-out.

It’s a good comic. If you’re in the loop at all, you know that already.

Sometimes when I’m coming up with content for the strip, things are pretty lean. Early winter is a notoriously slow time for movies because studios have already dropped their “quality pictures” (re: Oscar bait) back in December. Subsequently, it makes it difficult to come up with things to make fun of.

This week is different. It’s like a damn buffet of options. First, there is the pending release of Daredevil this Friday – Valentine’s Day. And I can think of NO other movie to take your sweetheart to.

Secondly, Oscar nominations are going to be announced on Tuesday. This fits in perfectly to the strip schedule, because I’m always working on stuff about 24 hours in advance.

Third, My Big Fat Greek Wedding comes out on DVD Tuesday. I think my stance on this steaming pile has been well documented, so I won’t go into it here. But that being said, I think we can all identify the comedic potential.

But when it was all said and done, I decided to make this week all about Daredevil. Be sure to check back on Wednesday and Friday. I’ve got continuity on deck and everything!

Daredevil is a movie that has swung left to right in terms of my level of excitement. When it was first announced, I kind of rolled my eyes because it was obvious that they were trying to capitalize on the success of Spider Man. Add to that, not many people know much about the character or his gothic style. Would it even translate to film?

Then, of course, learning that Mr. Chin — Ben Affleck — would be playing the title role sent me into a tizzy. I felt certain that I wasn’t going to believe him as the character. He’s a bloated jock to me. Too busy coming up with lines to get into a girl’s pants than being tortured and fighting crime. If you’ve seen him as the angsty yuppie in Changing Lanes, that’s about what I think he’s like all the time.

Some of the other casting choices were interesting as well. Jennifer Garner as Elektra? Not Greek, nor a proven actress. Michael Clark Duncan as The Kingpin? Uh, wasn’t the Kingpin white? All they got here is the bald head and a penchant for fancy suits. Colin Farrell as Bullseye? Interesting actor. Definite “bad boy” chops. But what’s up with that scar on his forehead and the iridescent, blue snake-skin trench coat? What were they thinking?

But as time goes by, I’m warming up to the cast and am genuinely excited about seeing the movie.

Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of Alais on ABC. Seeing Jennifer Garner in action has convinced me there really is no other woman “action hero” who could handle what’s required of Elektra’s ninja/assassin history.

Michael Clarke Duncan is making more sense, too. If anything, remember that this guy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor once. Damn shame he was involved in The Scorpion King, but I’ve also read that the studio went with him after several white wrestlers gave poor screen tests. When it comes down to it, I’d rather have a guy who can act.

I’m beginning to step around the poor costume design on Bullseye because I’ve heard Colin Farrell practically steals the film with his performance. There’s really a sick glee in his interpretation of the character, which I think will be fun to watch.

And finally, ole Benny-boy. Well, I take that back, I still can’t see this chuckle head as DD.

One last thing I’ll mention. If you’d like to test the awesomeness of your girlfriend of wife, draw a picture of them in a leather catsuit and see how they react. If they tell you “My character needs more cleavage.” like Cami did when I showed her today’s strip, then you’ll know exactly how awesome she is.

First things first. Yes, today’s strip is a Valentine to my lovely wife Cami. I was going to go into a big, detailed explanation about how I decided to do this for her, but I think it stands on it’s own two legs.

If that doesn’t cut the mustard for you, let’s just say that I really like making a public spectacle out of myself. Sometimes it can come out in very bad ways that may embarrass Cami (she knows what I’m talking about). But in other ways, it is a powerful tool I can use to let the whole world know how much I love and appreciate her.

I have a web site. I have an audience. I followed my heart to the ultimate conclusion. I love you, Cami. Happy Valentine’s Day.

That being said, my Valentine’s Day got off to an excellent start Thursday night while I was preparing today’s strip. Checking the site statistics on a whim, I decided to look at my referral logs. Lo should my eyes damn near pop out of my head to discover that I had been linked from the main page of NEWS ASKEW!!!

For those of you not in the loop, News Askew is the web site for all things relating to Kevin Smith. Yes, that Kevin Smith. The writer/director of such favorites as Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy.

It’s a great place to go to get the inside scoop on all the projects he’s working on as well as have a little fun with the View Askew cannon of films. It’s a great community and I’ve been trolling around the site for years. That, and his new site Movie Poop Shoot are two stops on my daily web rounds. I’m totally bugging out just being recognized because I’m a big fan of Kevin’s. Just getting the link is like a brush with greatness!

So to all of the new readers coming in from News Askew, WELCOME! Please feel free to take a look around. You may need to start here to get a handle on the current story line and figure out why Ben Affleck is even hanging around in the first place.

If you like, you can start from the beginning and work yourself up to the present day. Ours is a fairly green operation. We’ve only 87 strips under our belt since opening in August of 2002. But hopefully Theater Hopper will be a place you check in on from time to time. If you can manage to swing by every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when we post new strips, that would be even better!

For any Ben Affleck fans out there, I hope you know that the last two strips where he is featured have all been in good fun. Of course, having him make a pass at one of my main characters probably doesn’t do much to dilute the “Ben’s gay!” perception among those who like to slag our resident Daredevil. But what are you going to do with a guy who played a character named Chesty Smith in School Ties? If that isn’t a gay porn name straight out of 1976, then I don’t know what is! 🙂

To all of my regular readers, I hope you have enjoyed the week of strips I’ve put together for you. I had a lot of fun doing them.

This whole week has been a real trip. Even before getting this link from News Askew, I was getting lots of positive feedback which is something I don’t get that often. Hell, I hardly get any feedback! So when I get an e-mail from one of you out there is a great validation. To know that you took time out of your day to pass along a compliment is very humbling to me. I want you to know I print off every one of those suckers. So then I can show them to my kids one day and say, “See?! Daddy WAS a success back in his day!”

Of course, they’ll be, like really young and won’t know the difference. But still…

Well, it’s the end of Harry Potter week here at Theater Hopper. So to get you really amped up for the last themed incentive sketch, I saved the big guns for last. If you want to see Tom as The Chosen One himself, you’ll have to click here first!

What else can I say about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that I haven’t already said this week? I guess it’s breaking all sorts of records in the UK. No surprise there. I think it’s pretty safe to say they’re proud of the franchise. Cami and I think we’ll see the matinee sometime Saturday afternoon, which I don’t know how smart that is. The theater will probably be packed with kids.

No other movie news to report, so I’ll get along with other business.

I promised you guys pictures of Truman when he had his staples taken out. Well, I followed through on my promise. You can check them out in the THorum. They’re some pretty nice pictures. You can see the incision and how he’s now up and around, back to normal! Thanks again to everyone for their support!

For those of you that ordered t-shirts way back in April, they came in last week and I shipped them out Thursday afternoon! With any luck, you should be getting them on Saturday.

That’s about it for me. I don’t know about you, but the holiday weekend really screwed me up. I’m all off on my days. I still think it’s Thursday! Somehow, it made the work week longer!

All I want to do this week is stay home and read, believe it or not. I want to brush up on my CSS and XHTML skills so I can tweak the site and make it faster somewhere along the line. Cami and I are also gearing up to start our own eBay business. So you never know! Someday you might be able to buy some of our used crap! Git’cher self a piece of Brazelton memorabilia!

Care to guess what today’s incentive sketch is about? Tom as Spider Man, of course! You’d have to be a blind man not to see THAT one coming! Click here to see it anyway…

Today’s comic is not a singularity in the Theater Hopper universe. Tom has put on a Spider Man mask before. I only had to wait 18 months to dust off the old chestnut and put the joke back into rotation!

Clearly this week will be all about Spider Man 2, and if you can’t go along for the ride, well, what’s wrong with you?

Advance reviews for Sam Raimi’s sequel have been overwhelmingly positive. This is a good thing. It would appear that the franchise is going to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.

I’m trying to keep my expectations reasonably low so that when I go into the theater on Wednesday I can see the movie with fresh eyes. But it’s been hard avoiding all this hype! I’ll just say that I would rather go into the movie expecting nothing than expecting it to be twice as good as the first (which is what I’m hearing). My fingernails? Bitten down to the cuticle in anticipation for this one.

Say – real quick – if you’re in the market for some Spider Man AND Theater Hopper goodness, you should check out the current ORIGINAL art auction I have going on over at eBay. Swing over to the listing now and place your bid. This is a ONE OF A KIND piece of art that will see NO printed reproduction. If you win the auction, you own it free and clear.

Plus, I’m throwing in stickers to the one who walks away with it. EVERYONE loves stickers!

At any rate, the auction ends this Friday, so get bidding!

Cami and I actually sat down this afternoon to watch the original Spider Man on DVD. Cami was kind of dragging her feet at the idea of watching the sequel, but gamely suggested that we re-watch the original after admitting she had SLEPT THROUGH it when we saw it in the theater!

Hold on. Hold on. Before you start slinging tomatoes, keep in mind this was around the time that we first brought Truman into our lives as a tiny, tiny puppy. We were just getting around to leaving the house again, but Truman wasn’t giving us much sleep at the time. We’d often wake up with him two or three times a night. Nodding off in a dark movie theater isn’t totally out of the question.

Regardless, we sat down together and watched the DVD, filling in any holes that Cami may have missed in her intermittent slumber. When it was all said and done, she said she enjoyed the movie and was looking forward to Spider Man 2. This was a VAST improvement from our previous status.

When I watch Raimi’s original, it’s easy to see why it was such a record-breaker at the box office. It stayed true to the characters (well, except for the organic web-shooters… GRR!) but still had a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humor (“Up, up and away, web!”)

When you stop to think that most iconic motion pictures have one or two scenes that really stick with you, Spider Man had several. Peter Parker awakening to find his body transformed. The wrestling match with “Bonesaw” McGraw. The upside-down kiss. All of them are seared into my memory.